It is well-known that many waste products are recyclable; that is, they can be reprocessed into new products at a small fraction of their original cost of manufacture. This results in substantial savings to both the manufacturer and the consumer and significant conservation of valuable natural resources.
A substantial quantity of recyclable waste, for example, aluminum cans, glass, various plastic articles, paper, etc., is generated by the homeowner, and the homeowner usually disposes of this waste by placing it into trash cans or bags along with his ordinary trash to be picked up and disposed of by a municipal or private trash collection agency. Because the recyclable waste is mixed in with ordinary trash, separation of the recyclable articles from the ordinary trash is difficult, and the recyclable waste is usually disposed of by the collection agency either by being incinerated or deposited into a landfill along with the ordinary trash.
Procedures are available whereby a homeowner can separate his recyclable waste from ordinary trash. Typically, however, the homeowner must further separate different types of recyclable waste from one another and either deliver the separated waste to specific collection points or have them separately picked-up. This is an inconvenient and time-consuming chore and most homeowners do not practice this procedure.